Lingual Nerve Injury Lawyer

Attorneys Serving Los Angeles County

Lingual nerve injury lawyer Steven B. Effres of Effres & Effres is one of the nation’s leading advocates for the victims of lingual nerve injury arising from dental malpractice. Attorney Effres has handled more than fifty lingual nerve injury cases across the country and has obtained the highest reported jury verdicts or results for lingual nerve injuries in California, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia.

About the Lingual Nerve

The lingual nerve provides taste and sensation to the anterior two-thirds of the tongue. This nerve runs through the lower jaw towards the tongue. Because of its anatomical position, dental practitioners can avoid severe harm to the lingual nerve if they follow the appropriate standard of care. Failure to follow the standard of care and causing severe harm to the lingual nerve is negligence and dental malpractice.

The effects of a severe lingual nerve injury may include:

• Permanent taste loss
• Tongue numbness (anesthesia)
• Tongue tingling (paresthesia)
• Pain and burning (dysesthesia)
• Discomfort in the tongue, gums, and floor of the mouth

Removal of wisdom teeth is a common surgery where your lingual nerve can be affected. To avoid the risk of crowding or infection, dental professionals commonly recommend the extraction of one to all four wisdom teeth. When a patient’s wisdom tooth is impacted, meaning it doesn’t fully erupt through the gums, the extraction procedure is performed, which involves cutting and drilling through bone. It is not uncommon for dentists to refer their patients with impacted wisdom teeth to oral and maxillofacial surgeons.

If you suffer any of these effects – food tastes different, it feels like the anesthesia never wore off (numb tongue or tingling tongue) – for more than just a few days after a lower wisdom tooth extraction, you may have sustained a lingual nerve injury due to negligence. Residual nerve pain is sometimes treated with pain management including prescription pain medication, and in some cases, surgery can repair the lingual nerve to restore some sensation.

About the Inferior Alveolar Nerve

The inferior alveolar nerve (also known as the IAN or inferior dental nerve) provides sensation to the teeth and gums in the lower jaw, as well as to the lower lip and chin. The IAN runs through an identifiable canal in the mandible below the teeth.

The effects of IAN damage may include:

• Permanent tingling (paresthesia) in the teeth, gums, lip, and chin
• Permanent numbness in the teeth, gums, lip, and chin
• Permanent nerve pain (“dysesthesia”) in the teeth, gums, lip, and chin

Inferior alveolar nerve injury is one of the most serious potential complications in implant dentistry, and it can happen as a result of improper preparation and placement of the implant.

Have You Sustained A Lingual Nerve or Inferior Alveolar Nerve Injury?